He's hung out with the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, won international awards and competitions for his filming, and recently graced the red carpet at the world premiere of 50 Kisses.

Independent film-maker Anil Rao of Hanworth was ecstatic to be part of the 50 writers and 50 film-makers chosen to produce the feature film, made up of multiple stories connected by one thing - a Valentines kiss.

The huge box office hit included the 42-year-old's production NEIL which was the highest voted film out of all the entries in the 2012 London Screenwriters Festival and caused much debate on the 50 Kisses website.

The film premiere followed an awards ceremony where the team behind Neil picked up four accolades including best editing by Anil Rao.

The awards and screening were held at the Genesis Cinema on February 13.

Mr Rao who made his first film at the age of 17, said: "I went to see my first film aged two and knew from that moment what I had been a part of I had enjoyed.

"I wanted to make films and at 17 I was let down by a film and thought to myself 'I could do better than that.'

"Making a film is quite easy but it's getting it out there.

"All my successes have come from outside Britain as the British film industry is difficult to get into.

"Over 2,000 people worked on 50 Kisses. For me it's more about the people joining me on the venture.

" Film-making is about investing into something that doesn't exist. For me it's more spiritual to make films."

The self-taught director's passion for the job has led him on film-making journeys as far as the Philippines and his name etched on a number of trophies.

He is currently wrapped up working on a feature film titled The Killing, a thriller, inspired by true events.

The story is exposes society when a young woman's mother is murdered and her quest for justice is denied.